Major US stock indexes finished trading in different directions

Major US stock indexes ended the session mixed, as investors adjusted their positions on the eve of the announcement of the results of the Fed meeting.

Today started a two-day Fed meeting. Market participants do not expect the US regulator to raise interest rates at this meeting, as the set of economic data released earlier this month was worse than expected. However, investors will look for clues about the prospects for the Fed's economy. In addition, individual FOMC members' projections of interest rates, as well as any details about plans to reduce the balance of the Fed, are of particular interest to the markets.

The focus of market participants was also data on production orders. The report of the Ministry of Trade showed that the volume of production orders increased in January by 0.1%. Economists had expected orders to grow 0.3% after rising 0.1% in December. A modest increase in orders was due to the fact that orders for durable goods rose by 0.3% after increasing by 1.3% in December. Orders for transportation equipment showed an increase of 1.2% in January, after rising by 3.2% in the previous month. At the same time, orders for durable goods fell by 0.2% in January after declining by 1.1% in December. Excluding orders for transportation equipment, production orders fell by 0.2% in January.

Most of the components of DOW finished trading in the red (17 out of 30). The Walt Disney Company (DIS, -2.16%) was an outsider. The growth leader was Pfizer Inc. (PFE, + 0.97%).

Most sectors of the S & P finished trading in the red. The largest decline was shown by the utility sector (-1.2%). The health sector grew the most (+ 0.5%).

At the time of closing:

Dow 25,887.38 -26.72 -0.10%

S & P 500 2,832.57 -0.37 -0.01%

Nasdaq 100 7,723.95 +9.47 +0.12%